University of Pune

Circular No.

If{!*

Subject : Revised Rules for Ph.D.

It is hereby notified for the information of all concerned that the University Authorities have revised the Rules for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.). Copy of the same is enclosed herewith.

4%1st//
Ganeshkhind, Pune * 411007 Ref. No. PGS/Ph.D. la 0o Date : 29th August,2}ll

Director BCUD

UNIVERSITY OF PUNE RULES FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHTLOSOPHY (PH.D.) [For only those registered on or after l lth July 2009. All cases registered before the date will be governed by earlier rules. It is further clarified that any candidate, whose application has
been accepted by the concerned Research and Recognition Committee provisionally admitted before I I th July 2009 will be covered under the old rulesJ.

The University of Pune offers research programmes in different subjects listed in Statute No. 160 and in inter-disciplinary areas leading to the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.A candidate shall ordinarily work in a recognized place of research including the University Departments, Research lnstitutes and Affiliated Colleges recognized by the University. The rules regarding eligibility, entrance examination, interview, registration, supervision, submission and evaluation of thesis, viva-voce, defence of thesis etc. shall be as follows :

1.

Eligibility

For admission to the Ph.D. programme in a related subject in the faculty, applicants fulfilling the following criteria shall be treated as eligible :

a)

Persons having passed Post Graduate Degree (Master Degree) Examination with at least 50% marks or equivalent Grade Point Average (GPA). Persons having passed Post-Graduate Degree (Master Degree) Examination Law Faculty with at least 55%.

b)

relaxation for reserve category students of Maharashtra State only. OR Persons working in National Laboratories- Institutes/Govemment/ Private Organization nominated/sponsored by the respective employer. These persons should have a Post Graduate Degree and holding rank of Assistant Director / or above'
5o/o

Above-mentioned rules will also be applicable to the foreign candidates who have obtained a Masters Degree from the statutory Indian Universities.

c)

OR Persons with exceptional abilities passed Graduate Degree Examination with 50Yo of marks and with 15 years experience after graduation in related fields. In such cases exceptional abilities will be decided by the Research and Recognition Committee.

d)
e)

Senior citizenof age 60 years and above with graduate degree. In exceptional cases at the discretion of Vice-Chancellor for Senior citizen.

The fellow members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and / or Institute of Cost and Works Accountants and / or having qualification of C. S. shall be held eligible for registration for Ph.D. in the subject in the concerned Board of Studies in the faculty of Commerce provided that they possess a Bachelor's Degree of any statutory University.
Such candidate should have at least 5 years professional experience.

Graduate

in any faculty who has developed important new techniques (new for

the

country) or designed and fabricated special instruments or apparatus which are deemed by competent judge to be a valuable contributions to engineering/Pharmacy may be plrmitted by the Research and Recognition Committee of concerned faculty on the

recommendation of the appropriate Board or Boards of Studies to submit his thesis for the Ph.D. Degree in that faculty. Such a candidates must have at least five years standing as a Bachelor of concerned faculty. s) Application for research in inter-disciplinary areas and from applicants belonging to a faculty or subject other than the faculty or subject in which the research is proposed to be

done and from the international candidates (those who have not obtained the Master's degree from Indian Universities) shall be considered on the basis of the proven ability and aptitude of the researcher for such kind of research. Such proposal shall be examined by the Guide and the Head, Place of research before giving provisional admission. The admission will be confirmed after the Research and Recognition Committee/s concerned, approves the topic. Detailed procedure for admission should be evolved by the concerned faculty.
h) Admission Percentage for foreign candidates (those who have not obtained Master's degree from Indian Universities) will be 50%o or equivalent GPA.
2.

Procedure for conduct of Entrance Examination

will be normally conducted once a year and two admission cycles consecutively. It is necessary for Foreign Students also.
Entrance Examination

2(a)

Exemption for Entrance Examination

The candidates fulfilling one of the following conditions

Examination.

will be exempted from

Entrance

i. ii. *

Qualified in GATE(valid score*)/GPAT (valid score*)/SETA{ETlJRF/SRF examination of the apex bodies as CSIR/UGC/ICAR/ICMR/DBT and DST inspire fellowship only. M.Phil. Degree completed from any Statutory Recognized University in a relevant
subject.

To be decided by the respective Departments/Centres.

The Registration form should be submitted by the exempted candidates before interview within stipulated time with relevant supporting documents.

3.

Structure ofthe test: For Entrance Examination there would be two papers i.e. Paper

would be General Aptitude Test

Subjectwise/Facultywise of I 00 marks.

of 100 marks and Paper 2 would be

choice

I and Paper 2. Paper

Paper

I : General

Aptitude Test which will have 100 questions with multiple

covering Logical Reasoning, Numerical Ability, Reasoning and Language Aptitude.

Standard of passing: Candidates who score 50Yo and more will be declared as passed (45% for reserved category). The list of successful candidates in Paper I will be declared facultyrvise and such candidates will be held eligible for Paper 2.

Paper

2 : Subject Specific Test : This paper will be also of

will

100 marks. Paper

examination

be conducted by respective University Departments/Research Centres only.

l.

20 marks will be covered for objective relevant subject in the faculty. 80 marks

- multiple

choices with 20 questions covering

lt.

will

be covered by theoretical descriptive questions.

iii.

The respective faculty of the department faculty/Research Centre will decide the nature of theoretical questions and weightages to be given out of 80 marks on various components of theory questions such as descriptive questions, case study,
comprehension, essays etc.

iv.

The syllabus of various papers covered under different Boards and Faculties will be decided by faculty of University and the same will be notified.

Candidate desirous of taking admission to recognized institutes/affiliated colleges other than University Departments have to appear for the test conducted by University Department. No separate test will be conducted by other recognized institutions/affiliated colleges. The list of successful candidates (Paper 1) will be published by the P.G. Admissions section. Paper2 result will be declared by the respective Department/ Centre and copy will be sent to P.G. Admissions Section. Students will have to mention the Department/Centre of their choice (only choice).
4.

Allotment of Research Guide Allotment of Research Guide following guidelines:

will be done by the respective research

:

centre as per the

4a.

Allocation of Research Guide

On the basis of interview, the allocation of the Research Guide for a selected candidate shall be decided by the Department/Research Centre in a formal manner depending on the number of candidates per faculty member, the available specialization among the Research Guides and the research interest of the candidates as indicated during interview by the candidate. The allotment/allocation of Research Guide shall not be left to the individual candidate or

Guide. Guidewise quota will be declared. Reservation will be observed at the time of allotment. The reservation will be followed per guide basis (out of Eight, four should be open and Four should be reserved)

While granting admission to candidates to Ph.D. programmes, the Research Centre will pay due attention to the State Reservation Policy. Foreign candidates will be treated at par with Open Category for admission.
Only one foreign student will be permitted per guide.
Head of Department/Research Centre from the date of admission.
5.

will

ensure the allotment

of guide within 3 months

Application

Every person if he/she is otherwise eligible and qualifies as per above conditions and desirous of doing research work for the Ph.D. Degree should face the interview before the committee constituted as below. The candidate shall confirm the subject of his/ her thesis and prepare a briefoutline under the guidance ofhis/her research guide under whom he/she

propose

research work. All such candidates will apply in respective research centres for registration for the purpose of interview. All such exempted candidates from Entrance Examination as per clause 2(c) will also register their candidature with the respective research centre. The candidates will be interviewed by the committee constituted for the purpose as per the guidelines given below:

to carry on his/her

6.

The committee shall be consisted of : It is mandatory for the DepartmentlResearch Centre/Institute to get it approved by Hon'ble Vice-Chancellor.

a) Admission at University Departments.

1) HOD (Chairman)

2) BOS ChairmanA',lominee 3) Two subject Experts (One from

nominated by the Vice-Chancellor)

Department and One from outside,

4) Two

nominees reservation

of Hon'ble

Vice-Chancellor

one general and

one

b) Admission at PGlResearch Centres at Colleges

1) Principal

(Chairman)

2) BOSChairmanA{ominee 3) Two subject experts (one Head of the Department, and one from
University Department/ recognized research Institution/Affiliated

4) 2 Yice-Chancellor's
general).

College etc., nominated by the Vice-Chancellor) Nominees (one from reservation and one from

c) Admission at Recognised Research Institutions:

1) Director

(Chairman)

2) Dean of the concerned Faculty 3) Head of concerned Department 4) One Professor from University Department - the nomination by
Hon' bleVice-Chancellor.

5)

Reservation nominee appointed by Vice-Chancellor

7. Admission / Registration after the interview:

i. ii. iii.

An eligible applicant seeking admission to the Ph.D. programme shall apply to the Registrar, University of Pune in the prescribed application form.(Appendix-A) along
with the registration fees as may be prescribed from time to time.

The applicant shall submit along with the application eight copies of his/her Ph.D. proposal as per the guidelines (Appendix-B) to the place of research.

An eligible applicant shall be required to make a brief presentation at the place of

research before a Committee constituted as under:

1) Research Centre HOD/Principal/Director 2) Guide

3)
2 experts (research recognized guides in the concerned subject), one from outside the Department/Research Centre/Institute.

The presentation will be arranged by the Head, place of research on a date suggested by the Research Guide.

After satisfactory presentation, the committee will prepare a report on the basis of the presentation. In case of any suggestions given by the committee for improvement of topic, the candidate shall make changes accordingly and present the topic again before the said committee within 3 months of the earlier presentation.

After successful presentation, the proposal shall be sent by the Head within one month from the date of presentation to the university office (Ph.D. Section) to be placed before the Research and Recognition Committee.
case of any dispute/problem, Dean of the concerned Faculty shall take appropriate decision. In case where Head of place of research is Dean of concerned faculty, Vice-

In

Chancellor

will

take appropriate decision.

iv. v. vi.

If the presentation is unsatisfactory, the proposal shall

be rejected and the applicant shall be required to submit a fresh proposal and make a presentation again after a gap of three months and before six months from the date of earlier presentation.

The Research and Recognition Committee shall consider approval of the topic of research and appoint, in case ofinter-disciplinary subjects, co-guide/s recognized by this
or, in special circumstances, by any other recognized University.

The date of provisional admission shall be the date of registration which shall be valid for five years. Extension up to a maximum period of two years shall be given by the Research and Recognition Committee/s concerned only if considerable work has been done by the candidate. The candidate concerned must submit the application for extension through his guide and the Head, place of research, three months before the expiry of the registration period. Further extension of one year will be given on the recommendation of concerned Dean by Hon'ble Vice Chancellor.

vii. viii. ix.

If

the candidate desires, he/she can partially modify the title and the proposed plan of the research, the concemed Research & Recognition Committee shall approve such changes on the recommendation of the guide, the Head of the place of research.

As per the provision in Ordinance No. I16, registered candidates shall not be allowed to register simultaneously for any other degree course.

The admission will be confirmed (Appendix-D) after the Research and Recognition Committee approves the topic. The Head of Research Centre shall admit the candidates as per the rules and regulations of University of Pune.

8. COURSE WORK
The course work is compulsory and
under:

will

carry 20

credits. The bifurcation of these credits is as

i.

5 credits for Research Methodology which includes research methodology, quantitative methods, computer application, tools and techniques including instrumentation, communications skills, seminar presentation and review of published research

ll.
nl.

l0 credits for subject specific (2 subjects)

course work

5 credits for field work, seminar and other academic activities.

The evaluation

will

be done by the concerned faculty of the Research Centre.

Admitted candidates shall be required to undertake course work organized by the Research Centre as the case may be. The course work will be for a minimum period of one semester. The course work shall be treated as pre Ph.D. preparation. The Research Centre as the case may be, shall decide the minimum qualifying requirement for allowing a candidate to proceed further with the writing of the Ph.D. thesis.

If

found necessary, course work may be carried out by doctoral candidates in sister departments/institutes either within or outside the University for which due credit will be given
The candidates who have done M.Phil from any Statutory University and whose admission at M.Phil. has been done through an entrance examination and course work has been prescribed at M.Phil. level, such candidate will be exempted from the course work.
9. SUPERVISION

to them.

A. GUIDE
1. Normally a candidate shall be required to complete his/her doctoral research under the supervision of the guide recommended by the committee for admission. However, the Research & Recognition Committee concerned may allow change of guide on the production of a 'no objection' certificate from the first guide and an acceptance letter from the new guide. In case of such a change, the candidate shall work for a minimum period of one calendar year under the new guide before he/she submits the thesis. A 'no objection' certificate will not be required if the candidate justifies the non-availability of his guide. The justification will have to be endorsed by the Head, place of research. In case of problem/dispute, non availability of the guide will be approved by the Vice-Chancellor on recommendation of the concerned Dean.
2. At any given time a guide shall not have more than eight registered Ph.D. candidates and M.Phil candidates working under his/her supervision.
5

3. In case of a dispute between a candidate and his guide, the committee consisting of the following shall examine the matter and report to the Vice- Chancellor, whose decision shall be
final:

ii]
iii]

i]

Dean of

the concerned [Convener] Nominee of the Vice - Chancellor The Head, place of research [If the complaint is against the Head / the Dean, he / she shall not participate in the proceedings of the meeting. In that case, additional member/s may be appointed by the Vice - Chancellorl.

faculty.

The report shall include, among other things, specific recommendations. The report shall be submitted to the Vice-chancellor.

B. PROGRESS

through their research guides elaborate progress reports

the registered candidates shall be required to submit to the Head, place of research and every fails to submit three reports consecutively, his/her six months [Appendix 'E']. If a candidate registration may be treated as cancelled on recommendation of Head and Dean, of concerned faculty. ; 2. The Head, after the completion of the given period [one and a half years] shall send to the University office a report on the noncompliance of the condition stated in 9B(1). The copy of progress report submitted by the candidate to the Head, place of research should be sent to the Admission Section, University of Pune within 15 days.

l. All

the

3. The progress reports submitted shall be placed by the Head, place of research before the progress monitoring committee consisting of [a] the Head, place of research [b] the research guide, and [c] a research guide recommended by the Head, place of research from amongst recognized research guides of the University of Pune. The committee shall scrutinize the progress reports and prepare a brief statement on the progress of the candidate. In case of dispute, Dean of the concerned faculty shall take final decision. The Head, place of research shall maintain the record of these reports and statements.

10.

SUBMISSION AND EVALUATION OF THESIS

A. SUBMISSION OF THESIS
synopsis may be permitted only after completion of twenty two months The synopsis from the date of registration and successful completion of Course

l. The submission of

Work.

should contain introduction, chapterwise brief account of the work done and overall conclusions. Ph.D. candidates has to publish one research paper in a standard refereed journal before the submission of the thesis/monograph for adjudication, and produce evidence for the same in the form of acceptance letter or the reprint.

2.

The thesis can be submitted after fwo months from the date of submission of synopsis. At least three months before the date of submission of the thesis each candidate shall give a presubmission seminar to be arranged by the Head of the place of research at the research centre on

the request of the candidate duly endorsed by the guide. The final plan of the thesis will be discussed by the research scholars present, among whom the presence of the research guides and the Head, place of research or his/her nominee shall be necessary.
3. In the light of the discussion during the seminar mentioned above the candidate shall submit to the Registrar fifteen copies of the synopsis of his/her thesis through his/her guide within one month from the date of presentation of seminar. The guide may recommend list of referees to the Academic Section.

4. The

candidate shall be allowed to submit his/her thesis after the completion of period of two months and before six months from the date of submission of the synopsis, a failing which the candidate will have to pay the prescribed fine for late submission. Late submission of thesis shall be allowed up to the completion of one year from the date of submission of the synopsis ortill the expiry of the registration period, whichever is earlier. The candidate will have to submit synopsis again, if given extension.
5. The thesis shall be submitted in compact bound form along with a soft copy (CD). Along with the thesis five copies of the abstract should be submitted.

The final thesis shall be presented in accordance with the following specifications:

Al The paper used for printing shall be of A.4 size. B] Printing shall be in a standardized form on one side of the paper and in

one

and-a half spacing. C] A margin of one-and-a half inches shall be on the left hand side. D] The card for cover shall not be more than 330 gms. E] The title of the thesis, name of the candidate, degree, name of the guide, place of research and the month and year of submission shall be printed on the title page and the front cover. F) The colour of the cover should be black. Side cover should mention Ph.D. thesis on the top, name of the candidate and month and year. The specifications are shown in Appendix (.......)

6. The candidate shall submit to the Registrar two copies of his,/her thesis and produce an
acknowledgement of the receipt of thesis by the research guide and the Head, place of research.

'G'] and a Declaration by the that the work reported in the thesis has been carried out by the candidate [Appendix candidate himself/herself and that the material from other sources, if any, is duly acknowledged.
7. The thesis shall include a Certificate of the guide [Appendix

'H']

to Modern European or Indian languages. Exceptional cases may be considered by R & R for writing in Marathi language only.

8. The thesis shall be written in English except when it is

related

B. APPOINTMENT OF EXAMINERS

1. The procedure for the appointment of examiners shall be undertaken soon after the
candidate submits his/her synopsis.

2.The thesis should be sent to three examiners and evaluated by any two external examiners for the respective faculty as shown below.
i. For Science/PharmacyiEngg. faculty one examiner from India and one should be India.

out of

ii For other faculties one examiner from State and one should be out of State.
However, for Modern/Indian Languages one examiner out of State.
The guide of the candidate shall be the internal examiner.

3. The Chairman for the Viva-Voce and the defence of the thesis shall be appointed by the Head, place of research or by the Dean concerned when the Head is the guide or panel of three experts suggested by the Guide.

4. If the approval of the examiners panel is delayed beyond three months, the Ph. D. candidate, through his guide may bring this to the attention of the Vice-Chancellor directly and the Vice-Chancellor in such a case may initiate an appropriate action in consultation
with the Dean of the concerned faculty ensuring that the panel is approved within a month.

may indicate the order of priority of examiners from classification for various faculties as given below.

5. The Vice-Chancellor

I to 3 as per the

i. For Science/Pharmacy/Engg. faculty one examiner from India and one should be out of
India.

ii For other faculties one examiner from State and one should be out of State.
However, for Modern/Indian Languages one examiner out of State. C.

EVALUATION

1. After the BOE has approved the panel of examiners, the Controller of Examinations shall invite the first two examiners from the approved panel, to examine the thesis. The COE shall forward the thesis to the examiners within a week from the date of the receipt of the acceptance letter or the submission of thesis, whichever is later. If an examiner does not accept the invitation within thirty days from the date of dispatch of the invitation letter,
Controller of Examination shall send invitation letter to the next examiner on the panel.

2. The external examiners shall independently send their reports to the COE within sixty days from the date of receipt of the thesis [The reports sent by fax or e-mail by using the 'postscript' package will be accepted]. If an examiner fails to do so, the COE shall send him/her a reminder immediately after the expiry of the said period and request himArer to submit the report within thirty days. If the concemed examiner fails to comply even within the extended period the COE shall cancel his appointment forthwith and invite the next examiner from the approved panel to evaluate the thesis. In the event of a request for the late submission of a report, receipt of the report after the appointment has been cancelled or the loss of report, postal delay, etc. the Dean concerned shall take an appropriate decision in the interest of the candidate concerned.
Research Guide (intemal examiner) shall be immediately forwarded to the Head, place of research who, after ascertaining that the reports are favourable, shall arrange the viva and the defence of the thesis at the earliest date suitable to the internal examiner, the nearest external examiner and the chairperson. The Head of the Department shall nominate the chairman for the defence from a panel of three senior research guides to be suggested by the intemal examiner. The Head shall make the reports available to the candidate, the research guide and the chairperson at least a day before the date of the viva. (In case of any problem, the Dean of the concerned faculty will take appropriate decision). 4. In case one out of two extemal examiners give unfavourable report then COE shall get the thesis examined by an additional examiner from the panel of examiners approved by the BOE. If the additional examiner also gives an unfavourable report the candidate will be declared to have failed.

3. The positive reports received from the external examiners and the

11.

VIVA VOCE AND DEFENCE OF THE THESIS

The day, date, time and the place for the viva voce and the defence of thesis shall be notified by the Head of the place of research at least eight days in advance. Normally, the viva voce and the defence of the thesis shall be arranged in the University Department. ln exceptional cases, the Vice-Chancellor may allow the viva to be conducted at a place of

1.

research outside the UniversitY campus. In such a case the procedure conduct of viva, PaYments, etc. shall be as laid down by the University.

and norms for the

(internal examiner), one 2. The defelce of the thesis shall take place in the presence of guide

of the external examiner and the chairperson, who shall jointly evaluate the performance take the appropriate candidate. In case of dispute, Dean of the concerned faculty shall
decision. defence, the neither of the external examiners are able to be present at the time olthe faculty shall Vice-Chancellor, on the recommendation of the guide and the Dean concerned examiner for the defence of the thesis' lrl case the appoir-rt a senior research guide to act as an

3"

If

of the setriot' internal examiner is not-available, the Vice- Chancellor shall appoint one & I'leacl of the facLrlty research guides on the recommendation of the Dean of the concerned place ofresearch.
shall subrnit to the 4.The exarniners present for the viva-voce and the defence of the thesis the coE their frnal consolidated report along with the reply given to the querics raised by

the Viv:texternal examiners in written form signed and accepted by the members of the Ph. D. degree immediate[1' atter the Voce panel. [Appendi, 'I'], about the iward of
defence is over.

recontmencl 5. In case the defence is not satisfactory, the examiners may unanimously thesis be organized within period with reasons that a fresh viva-voce and defence of the of not less than one month. If the defence is still not-satisfactory the committee would of record the reasons for the same. The committee may recommend the rcsubmission the thesis with suggested changes or recomlnend the rejection of the thesis.

12.

DEPOSITORY WITH UGC.

annoLtt-tcements

Followilg the successful completion of the evaluation process and

of

the

to the UCC rvithin arvard of ph.O., the Universityinatt submit a soft copy of the Ph.D. thesis thirty days, for hosting the same in INFLIBENT accessible to all

period

of

InstitLrtions/Urriversities.
Degree The University shall issue a provisional ceftificate, cerlifying to the effect that the per thc has been ar.varded in accordance with the Regulations issued by the UGC as the Gazette of India published on 1l JLrll' Notification dated 1't June 2009 and subsequent 2009.

7. The overall result shall be officially

declared

by the COE r'i'ithin eight

da1's

fro,r the date of the receipt of the favourable reporl on the defence of the thesis.

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